Staff Reporter:
Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus yesterday said the interim government is committed to car-rying out sweeping labor reforms in an effort to attract more foreign buyers to the country.
The chief adviser made the comments when a delegation of US Labor Department called on him to dis-cuss labor issues at his office yesterday.
“We want to make our labor laws at par with global standards. It is my commitment,” Prof Yunus told the delegation.
He said the interim government has appointed a special envoy only to reform the country’s labor laws and to address the concerns raised by the local and international labor rights groups, the International Labor Organization and the western nations.
The delegation was led by Thea Mei Lee, the deputy undersecretary of the US Department of Labor, and Kelly Fay Rodriguez, Special Representative for International Labor Affairs of the US.
The two senior officials said the US, global labor rights groups, and top international brands that buy clothing and footwear from Bangladesh, back Professor Yunus’s move to reform labor laws and create worker-friendly conditions in Bangladesh factories.
“All of these are wonderful testaments” to what the Professor Yunus-led interim government has done for the labor sector in the past three and a half months, Kelly Fay Rodriguez said, referring to the steps, including the 18-point agreement signed between the government and the local unions.
The US officials called for union rights in the factories and reviews of wages every year to cushion mil-lions of garment and footwear workers from inflationary pressures.
“It is good for business and good for the economy,” Thea May Lee said, speaking about the benefits of decent minimum wages in garment factories.
She said worker unions are “a training ground for democracy.”
Senior officials of three top US brands, PVH, Calvin Klein, and Gap Inc, were also present at the meet-ing.
Michael Bride, Senior Vice President of PVH Corp., said they backed labor reforms in Bangladesh, say-ing they supported similar efforts in Cambodia.
Prof Yunus urged the brands to declare the price hike of their orders every January so that the manufac-turers in Bangladesh can raise worker wages accordingly.
US Charge d’affaires Meghan Bouldeb was also at the meeting. She said the US fully supports Prof Yunus’s sweeping labor reforms.
“We want to be partners with you,” she said.
